The Kennedys (2015) User Reviews

A very funny comedy with charm and wit

[lloydj-99138 · 8/10 · 7 November 2015]

I felt the need to write this comedy after reading reviews which were extremely negative.

This new comedy from the BBC has been extremely funny from start to finish. It is refreshing to have a comedy without a laugh track.

Set in the 70's The Kennedy's offers an extremely funny and witty slice of 1970's England.

The cast of the Kennedy's is brilliant with Katherine Parkinson shinning as Brenda.

I really hope it will return for an equally comedic second series.And that we see more comedies of equal quality.

Seventies Stevenage Sitcom

[mars_central · 8/10 · 1 November 2015]

The Kennedys is loosely based on The Tent, The Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy and is set in Stevenage in the late seventies.

I was born in 1979, so the nostalgia for me in this show is minimal. That said, it does remind me of my eighties childhood a little. I have seen some criticism of the show's anachronisms, something I'll admit to not noticing. I'm sure that could be irritating, but this isn't a documentary and shouldn't detract from the show's strengths.

The show focuses on the Kennedys and their friends Jenny and Tim, two young families grappling with the challenges of their era. Trying to be modern and fashionable at a time when lasagne is considered exotic.

Putting the past under the spotlight could easily descend into laughing at their ignorance and feel very mean spirited. Fortunately, Emma Kennedy's writing is much fairer than that. The characters' charm shines through and gives warmth to the humour that allows it to be absurd with out seeming ridiculous. While there are appeals to a sense of nostalgia, The Kennedys doesn't rely on it and allows it's humour to work in it's own right giving it appeal to me in my thirties and my parents who were in their twenties when this show is set.

The cast are fantastic. They manage to use the quirks of their characters to full comedic effect while keeping them grounded and believable as friends and family. This level of quality from the older actors is impressive, the fact that Lucy Hutchinson is up there too is astonishing.

I haven't read the book the show is based on, but the strength of the writing here really does recommend it.

Great show!

[chieftan-51654 · 8/10 · 13 January 2020]

Terrific show that deserved a much better fate than it got. Parkinson and Peacock(real-life husband and wife) are outstanding as is the entire cast. If only the BBC would have given this gem another time slot or moved it to BBC 2. Such a shame we only have six episodes.

Hilarious family comedy

[nigel-batts · 9/10 · 30 October 2020]

This show was fantastic and the BBC made a huge mistake in not commissioning a second series. The whole cast were perfect and the stories were based on a book which was also hilariously funny. A shame that we only got six episodes.

Really enjoyed this series, wish they made more

[etann-36707 · 7/10 · 11 December 2022]

It's simple silly lighthearted family fun, I just don't get why something like this gets just one season and some trashy mind-numbing junk gets more playtime. There should be a rule where a minimum of two seasons are commissioned, this series leaves off with a bit of a cliff-hanger that will never see the light of day, just a bit frustrating. I really like Katherine Parkinson so I'm biased, but I liked the other characters as well, they all had their own quirks, and were fun to watch, maybe just the little girls role was a bit too side-lined for a show that was supposedly based around her life. Watching some episodes it's almost like I forget she's even part of the plot. Her character twist is she loves Star Wars and is a tomboy, I guess it was odd for a girl at that time to be so enthusiastic about Sci-Fi, but with modern tastes it doesn't seam so odd or out of the ordinary. And anytime it's brought up in the series it's like a "so what" moment. Since it was just loosely based on a life story, it really did have a fairly blank slate to work with, so in the end it was a waste of a good setting and pliable characters. I did really like it overall and if anything fans of Katherine Parkinson should enjoy seeing more of her.

Why Does this ALWAYS happen!?

[mrzmandamed · 9/10 · 30 October 2019]

I stumbled on this HILARIOUS British Sitcom... Didn't check how many Seasons/Episodes.. AGAIN... I watched them ALL.. WHY IS THERE JUST 1 Season/6 Episodes!!!?? This show is AWESOME! I feel like I did when TV/ABC Cancelled "OUAT Alice in Wonderland"!

So funny, can't believe BBC didn't renew for another season!

[mcpdevlin · 8/10 · 1 June 2022]

This is one of the funnier sitcoms I have seen in quite some time. Post Covid, I started to run out of series to watch and found The Kennedys. I'm glad I did! One season, still worth the watch and some good belly laughs. It's a shame it only ran for one season. I hope it gets a reboot with added seasons but I have to say, the chemistry of the acting team will be tough to beat.

Growing up 70s style

[Prismark10 · 2/10 · 20 October 2015]

There seems to be several comedies started on the BBC based on memoirs about growing up in 1970s Britain.

Cradle to Grave based loosely on the autobiography of Danny Baker is much better and funnier.

This is based on the memoirs of writer and actress Emma Kennedy who is played by Lucy Hutchison. She is a 10 year old obsessed with Star Wars. Her parents are Brenda and Tony Kennedy played by Katherine Parkinson and Dan Skinner. The Kennedys have moved into a new estate in Stevenage and pleased that they are social climbing and on the verge of being considered middle class meaning dinners parties and being part of the new town community.

The Kennedys make friends to a couple who only live together. Tim is the typical 1970s Lothario looking type and Jenny is more traditional girlfriend who is also pregnant. They also have African neighbours who seemed to be confused by everyone's antics.

With the focus being on young Emma and her school friends lends the sitcom some similarities with Outnumbered and also allows it to insert pop references such as Stars Wars or the latest heartthrobs or pop groups. One of the episodes had the young girls in distress as Donny Osmond got engaged.

The adults get into their own misadventures usually based on confusion of some sort. One of the episodes had both couples pretending to be gay as they wanted to impress their new lesbian neighbours from Denmark.

The sitcom has no laughter track. If it did then the audience never bothered laughing. It is a mirth free zone. I thought the first episode was very bad and although it slightly improved, this lacks the heart, warmth and insight of Cradle to Grave.

The 1970s setting seems to be all over the place. It just went for some kind of generic 70s nostalgia. There was a good touch when showing those scary public information films which they used to show at school, because I saw them at school then.

The whole show wants to rely on just nostalgia but the script is poor. There is not much laughter in 'look bad women drivers' when it featured Brenda trying to pass her driving test and she was a horrible driver or Tim trying to get ready for parenthood by building a cot. Even the episode where they went on a disastrous camping holiday was rather predictable.

Some of the language is jarring as its too modern. They really did not speak like that in the 1970s. Having a black couple in the show and then sort of dismissing them just looks like casual racism even if the Kennedys actually may had treated their neighbours like that 40 years ago.

Fun and hilarious

[maccas-56367 · 8/10 · 18 July 2022]

I can't believe The Kennedys didn't get a second series commissioned! It felt unique and was laugh-out-loud funny each episode.

It has made me want to read the source material its loosely based on - The Tent, The Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy. The first episode in particular had us laughing until we cried and excited that we had somehow stumbled upon a hidden gem.

Things were just as funny when 'the bucket' itself makes an appearance. Glad I never went camping with them. In fact, I don't think I'll go camping in a tent ever again now! It's the kind of show that makes you smile while reminiscing about it.

Not every episode was a winner though. Some fell flat, and even though it wasn't a long series, it did somehow manage to lose momentum. Still, the acting was all great and the lines delivered with excellent comedic timing. Will definitely watch again, especially when needing some laughter medicine!

It's not funny.

[Hagar7 · 3/10 · 16 May 2022]

Once the nostalgia's out of the way, there's no there there; it's a waste of a strong cast. The only remotely likeable character is Tony, the dad; Barbara is a grating social climber and "feminist"; Jenny is an hysterical ninny, and Tim is a womanizing jackass. Emma's precocious, and that's all. I thought she was going to be the focus of the show, but she's incidental to it and substantively the show would have been no different if she had been written out completely.

The episode where the couples pretended to be gay to make friends with new gay neighbors was borderline offensive, and David and Dee, the black couple, were clearly thrown in as a PC nod; they were actually interesting, but they were reduced to cameos. The show never came together; it couldn't decide if it wanted to be The Wonder Years or a slapstick farce and it ended up doing neither one well.